No white stuff has fried my brain!

First, let me apologize for all these days and weeks passing without a post. Besides having technical difficulties, it appears all the travelling has taken its toll on my brain. Because I was so unhappy with the constant travel, I somehow developed a writing roadblock that I couldn't find my way around. And then to make matters worse, I allowed Satan himself to come up with my sacrifice for lent season. He somehow coerced me into giving up white stuff! Why the HELL would I give up the one thing that makes me sane and happy while I am on the road. I LOVE FOOD! I am very passionate about food! ALL FOOD! Especially everything white! White bread, pasta, flour tortillas! It had to be the devil because when I prayed and asked God for strength, he said, "who told you to give up white stuff! I surely didn't." He told me instead of giving up something you should have added something." Well now I know he meant for me to add some enjoyment to my life. With all this travelling I have the opportunity to write about what I love and gain ideas for my dream...

So I'M BACK!!! I'm ready to give you all the best I have to give. I am currently in Philadelphia but this first post will be about an Italian restaurant I visited this weekend in Washington D.C.

The name of the restaurant is Paper Moon. It is located in beautiful Georgetown. That might be the only positive thing I say about the spot. Well the host seemed like he may be Italian. I was there with one of my faves, Delo. We sat down ready to have great drinks and good food. All I wanted was a glass of wine or a frozen drink. Our waitress made it clear that Moscato was by the bottle (even though it wasn't on the wine list) and the riesling wasn't by the glass! Then when I asked for a Bellini she said it wasn't frozen. I was confused. This place made bellinis with champagne and peach schnapps! Don't ever order this!! Its not good! You couldn't taste the peach!

Our food wasn't much better. Paper Moon had a small menu with their dinner suggestions. I decided to order from that menu and get the spinach ravioli verde. It was spinach and cheese stuffed ravioli with either, alfredo, meat sauce or vodka sauce. I ordered it with the vodka sauce only to have the waitress return to the table and tell me they didn't have it! How is it a dinner suggestion and you don't have it! So I had to get the most boring thing on the menu...lasagna! I like lasagna but not when I'm trying new things! The lasagna was the size of my head and it wasn't great. There was nothing special about it. Nothing authentic to it. On top of that they gave us some non-blended oil and herbs and tomato sauce for the italian loaf they served. That was nasty! There was absolutely no taste to it bc it wasn't blended.

This post is long enough but as you can see Paper Moon gets a OH NO Mama Mia from me. Don't waste your time or money.

Talk to you soon

The Loop That Didn't Make Me Jump Through Hoops

Tonight I decided to try a place called The Loop in Winston. Well I was not jumping through hoops after I ate my food. First off the full name of the restaurant is The Loop Pizza Grill. Well I didn't know that until after I had ordered my cajun fish wrap and house salad. The wrap consisted of a piece of white fish with cajun seasoning. It was okay but nothing memorable. I couldn't eat the actual bread because it was bland and the inside of the wrap was a piece of leaf lettuce! There was nothing to the wrap so I proceeded to just eat the fish with my house salad (which ended up being pretty good)!

The moral of this story is know the full name of the restaurant. If it says it's a pizza grill, you should probably order a PIZZA! I'm a dork. I know. When you deal with the stressors I deal with all day, you are allowed a brain fart every once and a while!

Tomorrow, I think I am going to try something new again. I can't believe I lived in Winston-Salem for 4 years and never tried some of these places. This city is loaded with food possibilities and I plan on conquering them all before my time is up here.

I figured I need a signature for these blogs. Something to leave you with that would be "my thing" so here goes....

Keep eatin' :0

Back to Familiar Goodness

I am now in Winston-Salem, NC. A city that is near and dear to my heart because it's the city I became an adult in. I spent 4 years in this city at Winston-Salem State University (GO RAMS!!!) So over the next several weeks I will be telling you all about some places that I am very familiar with. Some places that aren't new to me but are so special to me because I have loved them for so long.

I know you generally leave the best for last but anyone that knows me knows that I had to get to Cities as soon as I got to Winston! Cities is my favorite restaurant. Not just a favorite of mine. NO. It is my all-time favorite restaurant. It's not a chain (thank God)! It is this hidden treasure in Winston. Most people go to all the chain restaurants along Hanes Mall Blvd. Cities is away from all that and it is a collection of several atmospheres. It can be a family restaurant. It can be a romantic spot. It can be a great place for you to go with friends.

My boss was in town this week and she wanted to go out to eat so she could vent. So I took her to Cities. I ordered what has now become my favorite thing on the menu which is the Grilled Chicken. I know, I know. Grilled chicken sounds boring but this is the most succulent piece of chicken you have ever tasted. They take a boneless chicken breast and split it and beat it to flatten it out. Then they put it on a hot grill and only for a few minutes so it isn't dry. It is seasoned perfectly with salt and pepper and they top it with this lemon butter dill sauce. OMG!!! I cannot explain how wonderful this sauce is on this chicken. I always ask for extra sauce because I just want to take my bread and sop up every last drop of it. It is buttery goodness! Oh good Lord! This sauce is why God created chicken. This sauce was supposed to be on top of chicken. It makes the perfectly grilled chicken taste like chicken that Jesus touched himself!

Now that I have completed slobbered all over myself talking about this chicken, I can tell you about the delicious rice pilaf that they serve with the chicken. Now I love rice but Cities makes it special. They serve it in the shape of a pyramid! Its so cute but I tear it down faster than the pyramid building gods put it up! This rice is delicious but you know what makes it better....the lemon butter dill sauce that is dripping off the chicken! LOL!

I know you are probably thinking that what I really liked is the sauce. You would be wrong. I don't like the sauce, I LOVE the sauce. It is the perfect companion to this meal!

Due to the conversation, I didn't get to eat my dessert. I will have to go back so that I can tell you all about the best strawberry shortcake in the world! Don't worry. With me spending 6 more weeks in Winston. There will be several more posts about Cities. Remember the name and please, please visit when you are in Winston. It is the best kept secret in town.

Leaving The Ham!

I have been trying to think how to summarize my stay in Birmingham. I mean...I met very nice people and I ate good food but...I am sooooooooooooooooo ready to get outta here!

I had a great time eating my way around this city (or at least the part of the city closest to my job and hotel!). I will never forget the deliciousness of Chappy's with that Maple Turkey Croissant. Or that incredible Grilled Shrimp Greek Salad from Taziti's. And I didn't even get to tell you about my trip to California Pizza Kitchen. I know its not central to Birmingham but I generally do not like California Pizza Kitchen but this time I tried the Roasted Garlic Chicken Thin Crust Pizza! HOLY MOLY BATMAN! That pizza was so incredible. There was a ridiculous amount of roasted garlic chunks all over this pizza. The crust was extra crispy and was almost like flatbread. The chicken was thinly sliced and it was perfectly cradled under the cheesy goodness that was all over the pizza! OMG! This was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!!!!!

Okay I digress...I was supposed to be wrapping up Birmingham not continuing on and on about that faboulous pizza!

While in Birmingham, I also found a newfound appreciation for Jason's Deli. I'll be honest...I had never been so I was basing all my opinions of the place on what others had said. Well I finally tried it and I really liked it. Its not my favorite place but I found two things that I would go back and order over and over again. That Plain Jane Potato and this salad (I forget the name so maybe it was so great after all). The Plain Jane is full of butter, cheese, sour cream, and best of all BACON!!! You can't go wrong with any of those ingredients. And then they cover a potato the size of my head! Its a potato on steroids! Seriously! The salad that now has no name had pumpkin seeds, apples, dried cranberries, leafy mixed greens, and BACON! YUMMY! Then it is covered with this wonderful balsamic vinegarette. Good stuff all the way around!

Panera Bread gave me the best potato soup I have ever had while I was in Birmingham! I always get the potato soup but it is generally runny. This particular day the soup was thick and creamy and full of chunks of potato and BACON! It was seasoned perfectly and it was heavenly.

Ok, ok, ok...I have to stop. Overall my stay here was long but it was so good. I'm not going to miss it but I will have fond memories of it. Until we meet again...

Sorry for the delay...

I am currently experiencing technical difficulties in Birmingham. I have so much to tell you about but the internet connection in the Residence Inn is not great. I am taking a big chance writing this now.

Just know this....Food is GREAT in Birmingham! Internet connection...not so much.

I will talk to you this weekend. Until then...

Chappy Greek

(Yesterday was pretty tiring at work so I didn't post anything. Hope this makes up for my absence because yesterday was a great food day!)

My day was very busy yesterday. I was putting together my first big shipment at work and making sure it got sent off with all the necessary paperwork. After a very physical morning (I was lifting heavy boxes) I treated myself to another great lunch at Chappy's! It makes me so happy! I decided to try something different since my wrap was sooooo delicious, I figured I probably couldn't go wrong with anything on the menu. My decision was difficult but since it was lunch I decided to go with a sandwich called the Maple Turkey Crossiant. All I can say is OMG!!! This sandwich was so amazing. Let me just start by telling you about the crossiant. It melted in my mouth like ice cream. It was so light and buttery. Each layer was to die for! Then with this perfect piece of bread they added massive amounts of this maple turkey. This turkey tasted like it had been prepared at the Honey Baked Ham Store. It was so flavorful and smokey but sweet all at the same time. And then I added my favorites lettuce and spicy brown mustard. This sandwich was amazing!

After eating one of the best sandwiches of my life, I headed back to the office to complete my work day. How many more boxes could I possibly lift? Well I lifted about 30+ boxes and prepared them to be shipped and then had to wait on the UPS guy to pick them up. After a hard days work, all I wanted to do was eat a good dinner and go back to my hotel room. I decided to try this little Greek restaurant by Chappy's called Taziti's. Anyone that knows me from Columbus knows that I love Greek food. I could've eaten Happy Greek everyday in law school and just about did!

I go into Taziti's and the aroma in the place is killing. I felt like I could've eaten everything it smelled so good! I walk up to the counter and look at the menu and I'm completely overwhelmed with all the options. But I decide to keep with my healthy kick and I get the Greek Salad with Shrimp. It sounds pretty boring but far from it! This shrimp was LARGE! Normally if you get shrimp on a salad they are so small you can't tell the difference between the shrimp and the feta cheese! It's sad. Not on this salad. There were nine big beautiful succulent shrimp draped in garlic, herbs, and butter. They tasted like the mediterranean...like GREECE! What I failed to tell you about this meal is that the chef (a 50+ year old black man) told the waitress to tell me that he prepared this meal especially for me....dirty old man syndrome!!! I don't know if he did something special to the shrimp for me or gave me some extra shrimp but either way...THANK YOU CHEF!!

I had a great Wednesday. Food was excellent which is good because due to the nonexistent snowy weather in Birmingham, I had to eat Jason's Deli and McDonald's for lunch and dinner respectively! All I know is that I have maybe two more weeks in Birmingham and I am becoming a Chappy Greek thanks to these two little places!

Afternoon Love Affair with Strawberries

Today was a slow day on the food front. I was so busy at work I didn't get the opportunity to explore with my food. I met up with an old friend today and we went to an oldie but goodie for lunch. CHEESECAKE FACTORY. You know, there is something about Cheesecake Factory that is oh so satisfying. I think its the fact that no matter what the price, you know you are about to get a plate full of food. Way too much food! But good food. I decided to get my usual lunch entree of a small plate of fried zucchini and the appetizer BLT salad. Both were absolutely delicious but not the highlight of the meal. Oh no....the highlight of my meal was the tall, cold, glass of strawberry lemonade!

Now, I don't know about you but I LOVE lemonade, especially strawberry lemonade. If I just want regular lemonade I can go get one from Chic-Fil-A but if you want the best strawberry lemonade experience of your life...RUN to Cheesecake Factory.

They seduce you with this nice, tall glass of strawberry lemonade. It is the perfect shade of red with all the seeds floating thru it. The seeds tingle every taste bud on your tongue so that you can experience every second of this perfect drink.

There really isn't a big secret to what they are doing at the Cheesecake Factory. Anyone can have this type of moment with this drink at any time if they just practice making it at home. Practice makes perfect! See the recipe is quite simple. They mix this strawberry concentrate into the lemonade but what makes it sooooo good is that the concentrate tastes just like the BACARDI Strawberry daiquiri concentrate that you buy in the frozen section of the grocery store. (And it probably is since the drink is made at the bar) And in place of the rum, they have added a shot of lemonade.

There is soooo much strawberry in this drink that you feel like you there is an eruption in your mouth. They mix all that together and pour it into this glass full of ice and the rim is encrusted in sugar.....ummmmmm. You just want to lick the rim of the glass!

By now I'm sure you are asking what makes this strawberry lemonade so good? Well I will tell you. Once it is gone....they give you FREE refills!!! OMG!!!! They just keep coming back giving you more and more!!! (I guess I really paid for it since the drink was $4.50.) I was so excited I got a to-go cup of strawberry lemonade and it was just as good in the car and at my desk.

I'm telling you....I didn't try a local spot today but I had an afternoon love affair with some strawberry lemonade. It was a great afternoon!